Idk if he’ll see this, but wanted to say we genuinely need more people in this world like dumbmatter. the guy makes one of the best games i’ve ever played, makes it free, easy to play at work or school, and is just a genuinely down to earth person. No fees, just pure hoops and entertainment in a world where it feels like everyone is trying to squeeze you out of every last dollar you have.

I used to use an ad blocker playing basketball gm, until one time a message popped up basically saying “are you using an ad blocker? it’s okay you can exit out of this…imagine i was as greedy as 2k or EA” and the guy is spot on, haven’t used an ad blocker on BBgm since.

Maybe a meaningless post, but i’ve spent i don’t know HOW many hours on this game, but man this game really is peak. Shoutout you dumbmatter, and absolute W guy for being in the community

For context, I re-simulated the entire history of the NBA, starting at the beginning of the 1946-47 season and finishing at the end of the 2025-26 season. I had player determinism set to 0% and all settings on default.

Only positive is I re-signed him for $12/year after this debacle.

I started a real players league in the 1946-47 season and simulated all the way up until the beginning of the 2026-27 season. Real Player Determinism was set at 0 percent and I did not change any settings. Ask me anything regarding what happened in my re-simulation. Also taking suggestions on What-If Scenarios to play around with because I enjoy doing that sort of thing with BBGM.

A couple years ago, I posted this companion sheet I'd made to help make playing BasketballGM a little easier. I was never fully happy with it but I'm now happy to present an upgraded version:

Version 2

Firstly, a lot of this has been coded on Apps script by ChatGPT - nearly all the functionality of the sheet wouldn't be possible without it. However, I'm delighted with the end result and just how much it can assist when playing BasketballGM. Unlike the previous sheet, this relies on the full league JSON.GZ file when you export league. This offers a far greater insight into the current league, the history of the league, the draft, trading and much more. Because of the JSON.GZ import, when you make a copy of the sheet and go to use it, you'll need to accept the apps script.

The instructions page should explain everything, but here are some of my favourite features:

Player Score: Every player is assigned a "player score" to help judge just how good a player is. It accounts for ages, role specialisms, overall and all sorts of other things.

GM Home: A one page overview of everything important

League Landscape: A look at the whole league, including team direction and their best long-term asset

Synergy Analyser: Calculates your best starting five based on team rating and team synergy. Also gives you the best starting five currently in the league, and a best-ever starting five!

Archetype Analyser: Full credit to /u/Fun-Attention-111 whose work was reproduced (with permission) on this tab.

Trade Analyser: Put a trade in between any two teams and see what the overall outlook for both teams

Trade Targets: Analyses your current team and tells you the best trades you could possibly produce, either overall or with specific players you want to get rid of. You can choose your focus as well - balanced, win now, rebuild, youth focus, first-round pick hunt or more.

Draft Board: Tells you how good the current draft class is and the best available players.

You can import the JSON at any point in the season, even mid-draft, and it will update everything automatically. Certain tabs, such as the trade targets, should be used sparingly as it can take away some of the fun of the game. I've tried to test as much as possible and it should work for custom leagues, but please let me know if any changes need to be made.

To get started:

1. On the sheet, choose File → Make a copy so you have an editable workbook and its bound Apps Script.

2. In BasketballGM, choose Tools → Export League. Leave the default options selected and keep the .json.gz file compressed.

3. On Sheets, go to the custom menu "BasketballGM Companion" → Import full league JSON… and select the file directly from Downloads.

4. Review the preview. The workbook validates the league before replacing current data.

5. The import loads ratings, current stats, injuries, team records, actual picks, released salary and season-by-season ratings history automatically. It will take a couple of minutes to import everything - this is normal!

Any questions or feedback, let me know.

EDIT: Images to show how to import your JSON.GZ

At least his contract is off the books

Hey r/BasketballGM,

Long-time player on BasketballGM here!

I've been working solo on Basketball Hoops Manager (BHM), a basketball management game that runs entirely in your browser. It's free, no install, no account, and your saves stay local (you can also export/import them as files so you never lose a franchise).

I'm not trying to out-stat anyone here. What I've been obsessed with is a different angle: making you feel attached to your players and your franchise. A few things I've built around that:

• Players talk to you. They come to you with ambitions, doubts, and demands across the season. A rookie chasing ROY, a star telling you he wants the MVP, a veteran thinking about retirement. You respond, and your choices shape your relationship with them and have real consequences.
• Rivalries that build over seasons. Lose a Finals, watch a star get traded to a rival, get eliminated by the same team two years running, and a rivalry forms. It intensifies, changes how those matchups feel, and can be resolved with a cathartic win.
• A live 2D match view with play-by-play, momentum runs, and in-game tactical adjustments.
• The usual GM depth too: full trade system, draft + lottery, free agency, contracts/cap, coaching staff, Hall of Fame, awards.

It's still in active development (currently v0.9), so it's not perfect and I'm sure you'll find rough edges. That's exactly why I'm posting. I want honest feedback from people who actually know what a good basketball management game feels like.

Play it here: https://mugitoa.itch.io/basketball-hoops-manager Discord (bugs, ideas, share your leagues): https://discord.gg/wpEzqk2U8H

There's players database available in the discord as well ! Don't hesitate to DM me, i'll take any feedback!

This is my first time doing this so I'm a bit nervous ahah!

On how it's made: this is a solo project. Every design decision, system, and the overall vision comes from me. I do use AI tools (Claude Code) in my dev workflow the same way devs use IDEs or documentation: it helps me write and debug code faster, but it doesn't design the game. Happy to talk about the development if anyone's curious.

Trading in this game feels so BS.

I'm trading for a measley second round pick.

The other team wants two players and a first!

How is that a fair trade whatsoever?!

Idk if anyone is autistic like me, but I was looking for like an NBA career simulator and found one that I've had quite a bit of fun with. I don't think its all that deep, but I wasted some time on it.

You start as a college recruit, play as many years as you want, then get drafted. I had a couple of Ish Smith careers, not quite sure how your sposed to improve or if it's random tho.

Idk if it's already a well-known game. Sorry if it is, I just couldn't find anything on it when I was searching how to up player rating.

PBL commissioner Seth Argento issued the following statement Sunday regarding the passing of Veselin Stojanović:

“Veselin Stojanović is the greatest basketball player we had ever seen. He redefined his position on the court with his dominance and ability to adapt with the changing game of basketball. He also redefined how an athlete is perceived by the wider world.“

“The greatest ability of his career is his adaptability. Despite starting his career on foreign soil, Veselin quickly mastered and revolutionized the league's playstyle. He was the first player to score 30,000 points, the first to score 60 in a game, the first to achieve 20 All-Star honors, and the first to play professionally for four decades. Along with those firsts came legendary accomplishments: 6 MVP awards, 4 Finals MVP awards, 4 Defensive Player awards, 2 Sixth Man awards, membership in all three PBL Anniversary Teams, an Olympic silver medal, and, perhaps his greatest achievement of all, 10 PBL championships for the Lakers.“

“Beyond those on-court accomplishments, his dedication to underprivileged children and whose lives were torn apart by war is also showcased through the establishment of the Stojanović Foundation. Millions of lives were forever changed and improved through him introducing the beauty of the game to those who would not have the opportunity otherwise. Veselin's actions, among others, helped shape and change the perception of an athlete as a caring figure for others.“

“Our thoughts are with his children Anna, Joseph, and Andrei; his grandchildren and great-grandchildren; his friends; the entire Lakers organization; and the entire world.”

My man built the best NBA sim I own, made it completely free, consistently updates it, makes it easily customisable for pretty much whatever, and takes the time to reply to individual comments on the subreddit despite his game amassing millions of users

I'm using a custom league, that's why it did it to a real player.

Hello everyone,

For the past few years, I've been developing a game similar to BBGM, but for soccer. The game has been available online for a few months now, and dumbmatter kindly suggested I share it here. I just wanted to expand it a bit first, but now I'm going for it.

BBGM is, of course, my main inspiration, don’t expect as many features, a design as polished, or a site as fast. It’s still an amateur project (I barely knew how to code when I started), so I’m definitely open to any feedback or improvement ideas!

Quick summary of the game: you're the sporting director of a soccer team, responsible for recruiting players and a coach, and building a squad to compete in the league, domestic cup, and continental competitions.

For those interested, you can check it out here: Football Sporting Director

And once again, a huge shoutout to dumbmatter. BBGM is already impressive as a player, but even more so from a development perspective!

Thanks, and have a great day!

Odubade

Hi everyone,

I'm one of the (1.5) devs working on the video game Pro Basketball Manager. We're trying to engage with the basketball community to help us improve the game. Our game is more focused on European basketball but It caters to everyone, as all professional leagues in the world are playable! The equivalent of the NBA is obviously in the game.

We’re as indie as it gets — just two friends, not even working full time, making this game together. It’s been more than 10 years in the making, and while it hasn’t always been easy, we’ve been steadily growing over the last 6 years. Passion has kept us going all this time, but now we’re at a point where we’d love to make this our full-time job so we can finally bring our full vision for the game to life.

We now have the Basketball Champions League under licence in the game! The game has a bit of a following in Europe but not so much on the other side of the Atlantic.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, or even just general feedback from basketball fans and gamers. Whether it’s about features you’d like to see, ways to improve immersion, or community ideas, we’re all ears.

Thanks for taking the time — looking forward to hearing what you think!

Just what the title says. Ask me anything — GOAT, most chips, draft picks, etc. Did it on 0% RPD

I will update as his career plays out

Probably the craziest career I've ever had. Played until he was 50, won 6 MVPs in his 30s and back-to-back SMOYs at age 47 and 48. I think because he was never very athletic, when the bottom fell out of his athleticism it just didn't hurt him that much.

Incidentally, Eric Money is a real player, he was pretty good for a couple years, but washed out of the league by age 24, supposedly due to drugs.

Anyone ever seen this in their game? Thought it was interesting. Wild to think if this happened irl

I’ve tried rebuilding every single team and done everything but Luka always wins mvp and the entire lakers are a god squad somehow and never lose unless I genuinely do some crazy stupid trades and signing and stuff because they always 4-5 peat in my universes if i play real rosters and 2027 idk if our lovely creator loves the lakers or sum but its crazy

EDIT: I mean THE golden state warriors im talking the ones that swept LeBron in 2018. Unstoppable

I feel like the game has small market teams a bit too unrealistically treated when it comes to contract renewals. Wembanyama always starts at like 15% likely to renew with the Spurs, and then he doesn't renew, and then his contract demands are 55m+ and what happens is only like 3 teams at most have the cap space for it and he signs for one of them and just rots until the end of his 5-year contract and then it repeats.